Friday Phobias and Fears

Obviously, I haven’t posted anything here in quite a while. It’s amazing how easily I get sidetracked with the mundane tasks of everyday life, letting my writing go by the wayside. I’m going to try to do better. I’ve been sitting around trying to come up with an idea to write about for the past week, but I’ve been coming up empty-handed (or empty-minded, as the case may be). Doing my time at work and coming home to rest from the day and piddle around at home takes up more time than I thought.

With today being Friday the 13th, however, it did cross my mind today to write about fear and phobias. What better day to address such a topic? We all have things we’re afraid of, and I’m certainly no exception. I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

My biggest fear, as those of you who know me can confirm, is snakes. I hate the things! The technical term for it is Ophidiophobia. I don’t care if it’s large, small, poisonous, non-poisonous; I hate them all equally and will turn into a big baby if I see one. Nothing strikes terror in me quite as much as a snake. I do have to admit that I came to have my fear of these loathsome creatures honestly. My mother is as afraid of these slithering beasts as I am. We’ve both been known to scream, cry, shake and almost pass out upon coming across one. I can’t even look at one on the television or see at picture of one without jumping in fear. Irrational as it may be, I’d love see the wretched creatures become extinct.

There was an incidence once when I went to the movies that might explain exactly how fearful I am of snakes. I wasn’t paying much attention that evening to the previews as they flashed across the screen, but one grabbed my attention as it started playing. The preview opened with an exterior shot of an airplane flying though a thunderstorm at night. “Okay,” I thought, “this is going to be some airplane disaster movie where it crashes, people die, etc. etc.” Nothing in this world could have prepared me for the next scene. All of a sudden, the scene switched to the darkened interior of the plane as it was going into a nosedive, with all the passengers panicking. All of a sudden, the air masks drop down, but not only was it air masks falling from the ceiling, there were snakes on all of them!

Yes, you guessed it. It was a preview for “Snakes on a Plane.”

At the first sight of these evil creatures hissing and striking at the people in front of them, I screamed in the middle of the theatre, while at the same time throwing popcorn in the air and landing on anyone within a ten-foot perimeter! People, I suppose, looked back towards me like I was insane. I say, “suppose,” because I had my eyes closed tighter than a medieval chastity belt through the rest of the preview. Luckily, I had went to the bathroom before the movie had started, or else the theatre would have had to throw my seat away in some biohazard containment area from where I would have soiled it. When I heard what sounded like the end of the preview, I thought it would be safe again to open my eyes and look.

Not so.

Just as the screen went black at the end of preview, they showed the face of some super-sized, steroid-ridden, evil snake jump out of the movie screen as if it was going to bite you as you sat there in the audience. It was at that very moment I screamed, “Oh God Lawd Jeezus, help me!” as I simultaneously threw both arms in the air as well as both feet kicking to get me out of the seat as a desperate means of escape. I’m not sure to this day, but I think I might have kicked the guy in front of me in the head during my scare. If you’re reading this and I did kick you, I’m truly sorry. Really though, it’s Samuel L. Jackson’s fault.

Another fear I have, albeit nowhere near as severe as my fear of snakes, is a fear of heights, also known as Acrophobia. If I’m in a tall building looking down, I seem to be okay. If, however, I’m outside in the elements, that’s when my fear of heights kicks in. I’m usually able to control it, but that fear is still there in the moment. No one else in my family seems to share this fear that I’m aware of, so I’m not sure where I learned it. Oh well, maybe it’s my psyche’s way of protecting me from a perceived danger.

There are also the more personal fears within such as fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of what lies in the future that I deal with on a day-to-day basis, but I’m sure those are topics for another time.

So as I close this blog installment, what are some of your fears? Feel free to share them in the comments section, and maybe even how you handle them. Happy Friday the 13th!

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6 thoughts on “Friday Phobias and Fears”

His self enjoyed the read; welcome back…From my youth it raises neck hair, creates nightmares, and causes cold sweats; what could it be? Being raised in Catholic Concentration Camp by the Sisters of Perpetual Pain is the answer…Where, groundhog day like, every day was Friday the thirteenth…Sister Mary Himmler, convinced my left-handedness was somehow a Jewish trait, could make me tremble two rooms away…The overwhelming peace of being a Southern Baptist increases my clairsentience allowing me to know she isn’t happy…

What is it called when you are afraid of being submersed in a body of water (such as a pool or ocean)? Or when you are afraid of anyone seeing your skin…causing you to NEVER IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE wear shorts or be seen bare footed (even in a swimming pool). This article brought to mind our walking ghost tour of downtown Wilmington…those snakes in the trees were scarier than any ghost we met up with!! Lol good article, Bubba!

Hello, Glen. I saw you’d stopped my blog the other day… so I thought I’d drop by and say Hi.
I didn’t bring any snakes, though. *wink*
I’m not really afraid of snakes. They go their way and I go mine. Whatever. I do have plenty of other fears, though. (apparently, consistent posts in my own blog must be one of them!)
It’d be nice to chat with you sometime. Take care!!!